36,000 teacher vacancies exist within schools across Sri Lanka – PM

There are 36,178 teacher vacancies in provincial and national schools across the country at present, the Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education and Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya informed Parliament today (21).

Responding to a question raised in Parliament, the Prime Minister stated that 1,501 vacancies exist in national schools.

She further noted that 4,630 teacher vacancies have been reported in the Western Province, 2,513 in the Southern Province, 6,318 in the Central Province, 2,990 in the North Western Province, 2,780 in the Uva Province, 1,568 in the North Central Province, 6,613 in the Eastern Province, 3,994 in the Sabaragamuwa Province and 3,271 in the Northern Province.

The Prime Minister added that recruitment of teachers commenced on July 28, 2024 to fill vacancies in Science, Mathematics, Technology and languages in national schools across the country, as well as G.C.E. Advanced Level vacancies in Sinhala, English, and Tamil mediums.

She further stated that 353 graduate teachers belonging to Grade III (B) 1 of the Sri Lanka Teaching Service are scheduled to be recruited within the next two months.

Additionally, the Prime Minister said that requests will be submitted to the Recruitment Review Committee, established under the chairmanship of the Secretary to the Prime Minister, to take the necessary steps to fill the remaining vacancies within the Teaching Service expeditiously.